Re: North East tiling Training - Tyne & Wear
OK so I finished my 4 day course yesterday, or should I say very late last night.
First of all I'd like to say that the opinions expressed are purely my own and in no way am I judging any other course available out there and in no way am I an expert on the subject.
What a busy 4 days I've just had. The course offered by North East Tiling Training certainly puts you through it both mentally and physically, but boy does it deliver the goods!
We have covered in 4 days everything from preperation work to adhesives, measuring a job to pricing, we've also covered working on different surfaces, pattern layouts, business sense, advertising, finding work and I could go on and on. A lot of people may say this is too much to take in, in 4 days, and you do have to be tuned in and listening. Darren delivers the course content though in such a way that it's really hard not to understand pretty much straight away the techniques and practices he gives you.
With over 22 years experience as a tiler he can deliver situations from the real world in which situation a certain adhesive would be used, this gives more relevance to the explanations he gives. He also tells you were he has gone wrong and what to watch out for so you don't make the same mistakes when you start out. The course days are long and on most nights it's been close on seven when you leave (8 last night) but when you do go you feel you really know and understand the day as you have a going over session before you leave just to impact the training.
Efficiency is the key as Darren would say and this is what this course is, efficient. No mess, no fuss, straight to the point, here's a demo of what you do, do you all understand, yes, right then get on and do it. For me trying yourself is the best way to learn. For instance day one of actual tiling I went home covered in cement, from my top to my jeans. Day two of tiling and I went home with only a couple of finger marks worth of cement on me, because after trying the technique all day the previous day and making my mistakes then, the second day the knowledge had sank in and I felt more confident and in turn was more able to do the job.
For anyone serious about training in tiling you can't go far wrong in my opinion. I would feel confident today to go to a customers house armed with my knowledge and measure up, quote and then turn up and do the job to a level that would give customer satisfaction. I also feel though that I could offer the customer advise on various aspects of the job in hand, the best tile choice for the job and explain why a particular adhesive was required say and add real value to my service therefore becoming more than just "a tiler". I already have my first 2 jobs lined up, a floor and a complete bathroom, small potatoes to some but hey from little acorns......
Oh yeah Darren also gives out his personal details so you can call him should you ever need to ask any questions, but he also likes to hear back from people to see how they have gone on since they finish the course. this I think makes all the difference. The personal touch.
And lastly but by no means least a big thanks to Tracey (Darrens wife) who is so nice and has all the time in the world to speak to you. Tracey is as enthusiastic as Darren about the course and both of them together make a great team.
Apologies for the essay but I feel I need to cover what worked for me and how good this training is.
Thanks guys.
Eric.